Search canberratimes:

Search in:

Queanbeyan residents told Mr Fluffy asbestos homes are safe

Kirsten Lawson

NSW health authorities are still insisting it is safe to live with Mr Fluffy asbestos insulation in the ceiling, despite an increasing number of prohibition notices on homes in Canberra where remnant fibres have been found.

Queanbeyan City Council will write to city's 11 properties on record as having the loose-fill asbestos in their ceilings in the next fortnight to remind them it is there.

One of those properties is a two-storey block of flats with Mr Fluffy asbestos throughout the second storey ceiling cavity - a building that had material falling through cornices when Robson Environmental inspected it two years ago.

But the council is still relying on advice from NSW Health that the homes are safe to live in, as long as the asbestos is confined to the ceiling.

Advertisement

A NSW Ministry of Health spokesman said “the asbestos does not constitute a risk if the structural integrity of the roof space and walls is not breached” and residents do not enter their roof space.

Asbestos Diseases Foundation president Barry Robson rejected the suggestion living in a Mr Fluffy home could be safe, and said he was surprised at the NSW Health advice.

“While it’s sitting in that roof cavity the fibres work themselves down. The roof cavity is not airtight, as you know, when the wind blows and all the rest of it, it does force that dust to move,” Mr Robson, also a member of the National Asbestos Taskforce, said.

“The only way is to remove it totally. To be 100 per cent safe it must be removed, it’s as simple as that.”

Mr Robson said Canberra was not over-reacting, rather NSW was “ducking the issue” because nobody wanted to foot the bill for removal.

“It comes down to no one wants to put their hand up for the cost, the cost is what it’s all about,” he said.

Despite calls over many years for the asbestos insulation to be cleaned from Queanbeyan houses, nothing has been done, with no accurate figure even available on the number of homes and buildings affected.

Queanbeyan City Council general manager Gary Chapman said the 11 properties came to light when the residents were offered a voluntary audit of their property around the time of the ACT clean-up.

Queanbeyan mayor Tim Overall has suggested there could be 60 homes, based on a population comparison with Canberra, where 1049 homes were identified.

Mr Chapman said the council also knew of one in Yass and one in the Palerang council area.

Two letters will be sent to each of the 11 properties – one to the house to alert tenants and one to the home owner “reminding” them of the presence of the dangerous material and of the need to alert builders and other tradespeople working in homes.

“The advice from the experts says if the asbestos is contained and people don’t enter the ceiling cavity and are cautious about the work that they do and there is no risk of asbestos leaving the… cavities then it’s quite safe to continue living in the building,” Mr Chapman said.

The council wanted the state government to clean out the asbestos, but had no public health responsibility or regulatory powers itself, he said.

“Our last involvement with any house is to give people an occupation certificate. Beyond that it’s a matter for themselves,” he said.

“It’s buyer beware. We’ve always said this is no different to when someone has a pest problem … people need to be cautious when they purchase properties, particularly older properties.”

The council would also alert Queanbeyan residents more widely in its next newsletter, Mr Chapman said.

Asked if he was concerned about the material still being in homes, he said: “we are absolutely concerned because I deal with people that live in the city, but the issue where we are hamstrung is neither do we have a regulatory responsibility and the properties are privately owned".

In Canberra, the 1049 homes were cleared of insulation, but it has now been discovered fibres remain in wall cavities and subfloors and in some cases in living areas.

Families are being told seal off rooms and cupboards where fibres have been found, and in some cases are being told to leave.

The NSW issue has been raised periodically over the years, including by former NSW MP Patricia Forsythe who complained in the NSW Parliament a decade ago, saying then the “conspiracy of silence surrounding the existence of the material in Queanbeyan homes… must be ended”.

16 comments so far

The NSW government is a Liberal government. The ACT government is a Labor/Green government. It appears that only a Labor/Green government is prepared to remove this dangerous material from homes and other buildings.

It's strange how Australia's Prime Minister insists on having asbestos removed from his future home in Canberra though.

Commenter

Sharron

Location

Canberra

Date and time

June 27, 2014, 1:19PM

LOLNSW Health Department wouldn't know if their @rse was on fire.

Commenter

Whistle

Location

Blower

Date and time

June 27, 2014, 2:57PM

Haha, future home? But how could he use the national sport of Canberra Bashing to live on Sydney Harbour then? Liberal Prime Ministers don't live in Canberra.

Commenter

Daniel

Date and time

June 27, 2014, 3:31PM

Sharron

I note that this ACT government didn’t start blaming the Federal Government when Labor was in power. I also note that the previous NSW Government (a very Labor Government) did nothing to remediate the situation. Why do the critics wait until the relevant governments are Liberal/Coalition before they start complaining? Oh yes – that’s the Labor/Greens technique isn’t it.

I also note that the work on the Lodge was initiated by Labor. Do you have any evidence to prove specifically that the current “Prime Minister insists on having asbestos removed from his future home in Canberra”?

How about the fact that this supposedly caring Labor ACT Government wants a new residential area in Belconnen to be put on top of the West Belconnen tip site – a site which was receiving all sorts of waste long before the current controls on asbestos were implemented, and so is likely to contain massive amounts of uncontained asbestos. Is that a sign of a caring government?

Just why is the Federal Government responsible for the Mr Fluffy situation anyway? Did the Federal Government get the asbestos installed? Wasn’t the installation of asbestos the choice of the then homeowners? Why should the rest of us pay?

Commenter

John

Location

Canberra

Date and time

June 27, 2014, 4:09PM

Makes one wonder why the Abbott government is wasting so much of the tax payers' money renovating the Lodge.

Commenter

Sharron

Location

Canberra

Date and time

June 27, 2014, 4:25PM

Sharron - it is Labor that started the renovations. Tony Abbott is quite happy to live in the local police college facility (which is far cheaper than the Lodge). Would you be so good as to ensure your comments are based on fact - and, for that matter - on topic.

Commenter

John

Location

Canberra

Date and time

June 28, 2014, 8:43PM

If the location of these contaminated properties is not going to be publicised, then they should be forced to install hazardous material signs within these homes so that tradespersons and others are aware of the hazards lying within. This is a public health and safety issue. The NSW Health Dept is surely not serious when they say it is ok to remain in these homes.

Commenter

Karyn

Date and time

June 27, 2014, 1:48PM

Actually in the ACT if your home has had an asbestos report done you MUST by law provide a copy of this report to any tradespeople doing work in your home. This is covered by the Dangerous Substances ACT 2004.

If there is no report it is the home owners responsibilityto advise the trades person there is no report, it is then up to them to determine if they are comfortable doing the requested work. If there is any doubt the trades person should be saying no.

Commenter

Jimmy

Date and time

June 27, 2014, 2:32PM

Hope they send the advice to the SES as well since it is us who get to climb in the roof cavity to fix leaking roofs!

Commenter

Jane2

Date and time

June 27, 2014, 3:29PM

Wishful thinking Jane How much does the government give to SES whilst giving a mining company Xstrata a tax free break on 15 billion dollar profit ? It is a good point however better try the local council government always pushes responsibility onto local government that is the ratepayers of the area foot the bill.